Sold immediately after wearing it? I took my family and fled the famine.

As we left the village head's house, the winter sun hung in the sky, blindingly white and lacking warmth; its rays offered little comfort to those who felt it.

The men from the Lin and He families walked at the front, their faces grim. Lin Gengsheng kept muttering "six taels of silver per mu" and "five hundred catties of grain" over and over, growing angrier with each repetition. He kicked a pebble off the roadside, sending it rolling a long way.

"This is outrageous!" Lin Gensheng said angrily. "Six taels of silver per mu? Why don't they just rob us? Five hundred catties of grain—even if we turned our pockets inside out, we couldn't scrape together that much!"

He Dalang, the man from the He family, walked beside him, his face also clouded with worry. He sighed and said, "Brother Lin is right. We've come all the way from the north, and the little money we had is almost gone. We only have enough food to last until spring. They're asking for five hundred catties of grain right off the bat. It's obvious they don't want us to live in peace."

"That's right!" Lin Gengsheng raised his voice even louder when someone echoed him. "We've suffered so much to get here, finally changed our household registration, and thought we could finally settle down. But look what we've got, we've run into this bunch of heartless bastards!"

The two families talked back and forth, feeling increasingly aggrieved, and a sense of shared hatred for each other began to emerge.

Jiang Xing and Shen Dehou walked behind without saying a word. Third Uncle, Wang Laoshi, Chen Junsheng, and Doctor Gu followed beside him, all remaining silent.

Listening to Lin Gengsheng and He Dalang's complaints all the way, they unknowingly arrived at the old house where they had rested the night before. From afar, they could see a few villagers scattered outside the earthen wall, peeking into the yard. When they saw them return, the villagers tugged at each other's sleeves and dispersed as if nothing had happened.

Shen Dehou frowned and quickened his pace as he entered the courtyard.

As soon as they entered the courtyard, the men from the various families sensed something was amiss. Inside the house, several women were sitting on benches twisting hemp rope. On the surface, things seemed calm, but the atmosphere was rather somber.

Zhang's face was not good. Hu gritted her teeth and twisted the hemp rope in her hands, making a creaking sound, as if she was holding back some anger. Chen Sumei buried herself in her younger sister Chen Xiaoxiao's arms, her shoulders shaking, obviously crying.

When Chen Junsheng saw his daughter crying like that, his expression immediately changed. He quickly stepped forward and asked in a deep voice, "What happened? What's wrong?"

Shen sighed, glanced at Chen Sumei, and then recounted everything that had just happened, causing the men's expressions to change.

Upon hearing this, Chen Junsheng's forehead veins bulged, his fists clenched so tightly they cracked, and his young face was filled with rage. He turned to rush out, shouting, "That bastard! I'm going to settle the score with him!"

"Stop right there!" Mrs. Hu reacted quickly, grabbing her husband's arm tightly. "What are you doing here? They were just saying nonsense outside, they didn't climb over the wall. Are you going to come knocking on their door?"

"So you're just going to let it go like that?!" Chen Junsheng's eyes were red. "My daughter is being bullied like this, and I, as her father, don't even dare to utter a sound?"

"Eldest son!" Granny Chen rushed out of the house, grabbed her son's shoulder, and said urgently and sternly, "You better calm down! We're new here, we haven't even settled in yet, we can't afford to cause trouble at this crucial moment. If we really make a scene, even if we're in the right, we'll be in the wrong, and we'll be the ones who suffer in the end!"

Chen Junsheng was blocked by both his mother and his wife, and his chest heaved violently with anger, but he still gritted his teeth and stood still.

He turned around and looked at his daughter, who was crying in his sister's arms. His Adam's apple bobbed a few times, his fingers clenched and unclenched repeatedly, and finally he sighed heavily, turned away, and stopped talking.

Shen Dehou's face was so dark it could drip water. He remained silent for a long while before speaking: "Aunt Chen is right, we can't be rash about this. But we can't just let it go like this. From now on, every girl and wife in the family must be accompanied by a man when they go out. They must never be alone. If anyone dares to have any wicked thoughts, we'll risk our lives to teach them a lesson."

He spoke softly, but the weight of his words was clear to everyone. The men from several families nodded, their expressions solemn.

After calming the Chen family down, Zhang finally got down to business. She placed the half-twisted hemp rope on her lap, looked up at Shen Dehou and Jiang Xing, and asked, "How did the meeting in the village go? What are the village's plans for our resettlement?"

Upon hearing this question, Shen Dehou's face immediately turned grim. Not only him, but also Third Uncle, Wang Laoshi, Chen Junsheng, and Doctor Gu's faces all changed drastically.

Jiang Xing, on the other hand, only frowned slightly, his face showing little expression.

Shen Dehou took a deep breath and recounted the results of the discussion at Village Chief Tian's house in detail.

Before he could finish speaking, the women's expressions all changed.

"Five hundred catties of grain?" Zhang exclaimed. "Even if we handed over all our rations, it wouldn't be enough!"

Wang Laoshi's wife, Aunt Wang, was also furious. She slapped her knee and yelled, "These people are deliberately making things difficult for us because we're refugees! What 500 catties of grain, what 6 taels of silver per mu of land—they call it 'rules,' but they're just taking advantage of our misfortune!"

Madam Hu even cursed out loud: "A bunch of heartless bastards! We risked our lives to get here from the north, and they just ask for five hundred catties of grain? Why don't they just rob us! I will never give them that money; it'll rot in my pocket rather than let them have it!"

"Keep your voice down!" Granny Chen snapped at her daughter-in-law, glancing outside in the yard before scolding her in a low voice, "Are you afraid the people outside won't hear you shouting like that? Their people are everywhere in this village. If someone with ulterior motives hears us, who knows what kind of trouble they'll cause us! Right now, the more you say, the more mistakes you'll make. Shut your mouth!"

After being yelled at by her mother-in-law, Hu reluctantly shut her mouth, but the anger on her face did not subside at all.